Tuesday, April 5

Nigeria-China Business Council tells Buhari to address power & investment during his next visit to China

The Nigeria-China Business Council has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to focus on infrastructure, power and investment during his upcoming visit to China. The national co-coordinator of the council, Matthew Uwakwe, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.

He noted that partnership with China in the identified areas would enable Nigeria to achieve its economic diversification plans. The coordinator noted that China has stable power supply and learning from that country would mean a breakthrough in the area of electricity.

He added that Nigeria needed major economic boosts in order to speed up infrastructure development, improve Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and overall quality of life indices.

“We need to build trade and economic relations and also have a good exchange of knowledge.
“The president can get them to increase investment in Nigeria and get strategic long-term relations as his main focus to diversify our economy,” he said.

Uwakwe called on Buhari to also discuss the issue of capacity development in the petroleum sector to enable the nation’s refineries meet local demand for petrol.

“We need a serious, conclusive turn around maintenance of these refineries and Chinese people are very good in that; again, when you identify your problem you can find solutions.
“In the last 30 years, China has been among the best in the industry and the country’s GDP is increasing.

“Some people in that country must be doing the right thing to ensure result.
“We can partner with China to improve the quality of our existing industries and revive the moribund ones,” he said.

Uwakwe disclosed that the trade volume between the two countries was 14.9 billion U.S. dollars as at December 2015 and urged identification of new areas of cooperation and partnership.
The coordinator advised that a committee should be set up to ensure implementation of decisions and agreements that would be reached during the visit.